The ORIENTAL DESERT EXPRESS from Oujda to Bouarfa through the east moroccan desert stopped about 25 kilometer northeast of Ain Beni Mathar, at kilometer post 111, because the track was covered with sand. Workers, travelling along in the train for this case, shoveled the track clear. The passengers were allowed to help if they felt like it. The others watched and took pictures. Later the journey continued and only at about 8:30 PM in darkness the train reached its destination in Bouarfa. The train was pulled by diesellocomotives DH # 421 and # 430 of the ONCF. The morrocan railway bought 30 of this NGT26CW-3WNFORCE 2460 kW locomotives from NRE (National Railway Equipment Co, Mt. Vernon, Ill./USA), but they were built by the TZV Gredelj in Zagreb/Croatia from 2012 to 2014, using remanufactured EMD 16-645 E3 prime movers from the NRE. The railway line was built from 1925 to 1931 by the French and is used nowadays two to three times a year by the ORIENTAL DESERT EXPRESS.
